CURATOR (otherwise called: WHEN YOUR STORY DOESN'T GET PUBLISHED, BLOG IT)

CURATOR

This story on CURATOR was originally slated for EAST magazine. After I submitted the story, however, the publishers decided not to run it. On a scale of 1-10, my disappointment was a 10.

I interviewed Dave Hall from Moto Art for a Bob Vila story and when he saw that I lived in Ft. Lauderdale, invited me to CURATOR as his guest. I hadn't heard of the event and thought it sounded like a fun one to cover. I pitched the idea to EAST and they said "Go."

 Had I not been "working" the event, I may have gone as the guest I had been invited to be, and I could have experienced the evening without the baggage of cameras, notebook and pen and  without the pressure of getting the shot. And, I actually may have eaten some food and had a drink.

But c'est la publishing vie, and I did leave with some nice swag compliments of New Beauty.

Thank you Matthew. Along with a delicious scent, you made my night!

New Beauty Swag

Souvenirs included my very own fragrance from Memoire Liquide, personally blended right before my very eyes by scent genius Matthew Aguilar from New Beauty at Fred Segal, as well as a bunch of random beauty products.
 

Here is a revised photo essay: 

CURATOR

Curator: an evening of flight, fantasy, fast cars, and fun.

Fiction created a swanky setting that included wonderful characters.

One thousand forty nine miles south of the publishing metropolis is a growing media company gracefully gathering magazines and entertainment companies under the sun. Sandow Media, now a decade young, known for thick slick glossy mags like Luxe, New Beauty and Worth, is now putting some focus on treating its audience to experiential luxury events such as CURATOR.

Sponsors first:

(l to r) David J. Archibald, President, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars NA, LLC; Ronald B. Laconi, President, Chartis Private Client Group; Andrea Bezark, VP Marketing Communications, Chartis Private Client Group; and

James N. Dimonekas, Executive VP, Group Publisher, Sandow Media.
 

CURATOR, Presented by WORTH magazine and Chartis Private Insurance, and held on the grounds of Sheltair in Ft. Lauderdale, was a platform for exclusive exhibitors to target a luxury-seeking quality-demanding public.

 The red dress makes (and the woman wearing it) the shot.

At 5'9" plus 3" heels, I found it hard to slink into the Lamborhini Adventador.

As late afternoon turned to evening, dramatic lights lit up the tarmac, and guests climbed into planes, slunk down into sports cars, and washed down  BurgerFi fare with fruity vodka drinks.

Though the Occupy Wall Street movement was protesting nearby at the Boat Show, the decadent mood at CURATOR, was enjoyed free of guilt.

Compliments of Chartis, photographers Thomas Daniel of Splashlight and Maicol Diaz of Unique Photography & Design, snapped crisp black and white portraits of guests all night long.

L.A. designer and wardrobe architect David August (left) sifted through swatches with clients

Mia Foley (left) and Lorena Arbelaez model DeWitt timepieces as....

guests, each handed a key upon check-in, tried to unlock the box holding a $26,000 DeWitt Twenty-8-Eight Regulator A.S.W. Horizons.

Inside a top-of-the-line Hawker 4000 that smelled so leathery good: Hawker Beechcraft demo pilot Dan Raffaelli (left) and Vicente Miralles, Sales Consultant with Avia Service.

A Wynn-win situation with Larry Altschul, Executive VP of Player Development at WYNN ENCORE in Vegas, and friends Teahnna Suriano and Jacqueline Bicknell who flew in from LA.

The Moto Art group: David Hall (right) with sales execs Melissa Pelligrini and Mike Rudden, and a few recycled airplane creations, including 2 fuselage partitions, a propeller sculpture, and desk from the private collection of Sandow Media CEO Adam Sandow.

I loved this computer animated artwork by Julian Opie called "Susanna Walking Forward". Click here to see her walk forward.

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